“Say Their Names” and “Thinking about the Unthinkable”
1. The murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky
Extremists on all sides target the innocents. And in so doing seek to set in motion more extremism. The 1995 assassination of Rabin by a right-wing Israeli set in motion the events which led to the Second Intifada, which led to more extremism among both Israelis and Palestinians. The barbarous Hamas attack on October 7 set in motion the Israeli killing of thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza and more attacks by settlers on the West Bank. Our challenge is how to stop this downward spiral.
Unlike in earlier eras, now there are people, in our name, doing unspeakable things on a mass level. We - and still I say we - never before had such power. As Albert Einstein (a Zionist himself) noted in 1936, “I believe that the unique durability of the Jewish community is to a large degree based on our geographical dispersion, and the fact that we consequently do not possess instruments of power that will allow us to commit great stupidities out of national fanaticism.” Now “we” have such power, and are abusing it, as Einstein feared.
Of course, none of this justifies the murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. We should say their names. But no one is able to similarly say the names of the thousands of children killed in Gaza. As Stalin is reputed to have said, “One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” But if we are to adhere to the admonition in our tradition that “whoever destroys a single life is considered to have destroyed a world”, we must grapple with the implications of the destruction of thousands of worlds. We must not fall into the trap of the Stalins of this planet.
2. Thinking about the unthinkable
On May 12, 2025, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest denomination of Judaism in North America, published an op-ed in the Washington Post entitled I
"I have said on numerous occasions since Oct. 8, I cannot be silent in the face of the immense suffering of civilians in Gaza, including hundreds of thousands of children. Hamas is willing to sacrifice thousands of Palestinians by hoarding humanitarian aid; Israel must not. Depriving Gazans of food and water will not make Israel safer or hasten the return of the hostages. Each of us who loves Israel must say so — and urge Israel to change this policy."
After reading it, I immediately thought about the agonizing question of what we do if the Israeli government does not change this morally suicidal course.
Shortly after publication, Rabbi Jacobs did a fine job on MSNBC discussing his op-ed. I was thrilled that he was getting air-time before thousands, hopefully millions, of people to explain how this major leader of the Reform Jewish Movement is approaching the crises. The more we are able to do this, the better off we will be.
Professor Eddie Glaude, the other guest on the segment, praised Rabbi Jacobs’ wisdom and courage. At 4:44, Professor Glaude then "ask[ed] a basic question. How many dead Palestinians are needed for the State of Israel? What level of mass death is required to satiate your revenge, to feel safe? How many dead babies and children? We have to ask that moral question as we bear witness to what we are seeing."
The segment then went on to a different topic. But Professor Glaude asked the uncomfortable question that came into my mind earlier in the day. An uncomfortable question, but every question involving the current crises is uncomfortable.
I believe that for most of us in the Reform Movement, the question of revenge is not part of the calculus. But the question of how "to feel safe" is. Or, to put it another way, how we weigh our sense of safety alongside our sense of morality. As I thought about this I noticed the picture of James Baldwin in Professor Glaude’s office and remembered Baldwin’s famous statement: "Not everything that is faced can be fixed. But nothing can be fixed if it is not faced."
The apparent green light that the Trump Administration has given the Netanyahu/Ben-Gvir/Smotrich Administration to lay waste to Gaza makes it even more imperative that we face Professor Glaude’s question.
P.S. After writing the last paragraph, I saw the NY Times news analysis from Patrick Kinsley. So now even Trump thinks (or says he thinks) the Netanyahu/Ben-Gvi/Smotrich Administration has become too brutal. When even Trump says that Israel’s government is going too far, we surely need to be unambiguous in our condemnation of its tactics and strategy. Israel needs to reconsider its approach – and not just in a way to put a fig-leaf over what the Netanyahu/Ben-Gvir/Smotrich has made clear is their intent.
P.P.S. And then this on May 28:
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